Ineos Automotive has unveiled a €15m ($16.2m) biomass heat plant at its Hambach production and assembly facility in France.
The Hambach factory, which produces Grenadier and Quartermaster vehicle models, has undergone upgrades over the past five years with an investment of about €540m.
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The upgrades included the addition of a new fully-automated body shop, a semi-automated paint shop, a quality inspection lab, and a wading pool for testing water ingress.
These enhancements have expanded the facility’s usable area by over 60%, now spanning 210,000m2, leading to a marked increase in heating requirements.
Ineos Automotive CEO Lynn Calder said: “Our ongoing investment in Hambach means our Grenadier and Quartermaster models are built to world-class quality standards, and in an environmentally sustainable factory, for export to over 50 sales markets around the world.
The new plant, with a 9.2 megawatt (MW) output, is set to consume approximately 14,000t of woodchips annually, sourced both locally and sustainably, to meet 78% of the site’s heating demands.
The construction of the biomass heat plant commenced in April 2023, and wood-fired boilers were installed by February 2024.
The final industrial commissioning of the plant was successfully completed in January 2025.
The biomass plant features two wood boilers with a combined thermal output of 8.4MW, an 800 kilowatt (KW) heat pump, and a 200m3 heat storage unit.
It is poised to supply more than three-quarters of the Hambach production site’s heating needs, with the remaining demand met by an existing gas boiler.
The transition to biomass heating is projected to reduce the site’s CO2 emissions by approximately 8,800t per year.
Furthermore, the resulting waste ash, rich in nitrates, is recycled as an enriched fertiliser for local agricultural use, reinforcing the plant’s commitment to environmental stewardship.
Ineos Automotive CEO Lynn Calder said: “Our ongoing investment in Hambach means our Grenadier and Quartermaster models are built to world-class quality standards, and in an environmentally sustainable factory, for export to over 50 sales markets around the world.
“We’re very proud of the advanced facilities and its exceptional workforce, which together make it one of the most advanced automotive production sites in Europe.”
The Hambach Energy Transition project, which encompasses the new biomass plant, is a testament to Ineos Automotive’s ongoing commitment to sustainability.
This initiative has received support from France’s Agency for Environment & Energy Management (ADEME), which provided a €3.9m grant under its Heat Fund assistance and Pôle national des certificats d’économies d’énergie (PNCEE) programmes.
Additionally, Ineos Automotive has entered into an agreement with Dalkia, securing a grant of up to €1.5m.
Ineos Automotive president Philippe Steyer added: “The new biomass plant is the latest in a longstanding and ongoing programme of sustainability-driven initiatives at Hambach. It was critical for us to increase our sustainable energy capacity to meet our growing consumption as the site expands.”
Ineos acquired the Hambach site from Mercedes-Benz (formerly Daimler) in December 2020.
